


Teach Me

by Slutinski



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Dates, Don't worry I promise it's totally worth it in the end, High School, M/M, Scholar!Stiles, Slow Build, Sterek Campaign, Teen Derek, There may be a lot of dates in this, but oh well
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-05
Updated: 2013-03-16
Packaged: 2017-12-04 10:00:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,050
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/709502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slutinski/pseuds/Slutinski
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU High school fic. || Derek is a senior in high school who’s struggling to keep his grades up. Stiles is a straight-A sophomore who has no problems at all concerning his grades. When Derek is suggested to get a tutor to help him with his studies, all goes downhill from there as Stiles comes to his aid. Sterek. Might be Slow-build. Rating may change in future chapters.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Lessons

Derek Hale was many things, emphasis on the term was. He used to be the perfect son with two loving parents and a modest, over-protective sister. He used to be the happiest rich kid in the world or in all of Beacon Hills in particular. But mostly, he used to be focused. But everything changed after the Hale Fire that killed most of his family, excluding his sister and Uncle Peter.

Derek was never the same, watching his parents burning to death as well as the rest of his family. Several days after the fire, his uncle gladly took them in and raised them to this day. Derek couldn’t have thanked him enough already for doing such a gesture for him and his sister. He didn’t know how Laura does it, but she always managed to get through the worst things to happen in life and turn it into something she could use to become a better person, someone stronger and wiser than anyone Derek ever knew. But to this day, Derek hasn’t been the same.

Beacon Hills high went on with its normal glory, the lacrosse jocks practicing on the field for the next season with most of their girlfriends cheering on them praying they make first line or possibly become captain this year. Derek had no time for sports, and although he did take part in them when he was in middle school, he just didn’t find enough time and effort for it anymore. He thought that it was getting in the way of what was most important, his education. And throwing a ball back and forth just to throw it into a goal was something that the chiseled teenager came to find as tiresome and boring. Derek promised his uncle and sister that he would focus on his studies, even though he was never really good at focusing at all anymore.

The poor rich teen had been struggling with his school work, especially with math. Math was never his strongest subject. Now English, he would ace that class as if it were a slice of blueberry pie. But math, specifically algebra, was something that he would easily get irritated by, and Derek wasn’t a very tolerant person. The way that they placed numbers and letters together in order to get a value or another letter was very confusing and vague as to why they would want to find what the letter stood for in the first place. Like seriously, what mathematician in the right mind would mash up numbers and letters together just to figure out an equation? Pursuing to become an author one day, the eighteen-year-old never sought any use for math in that field. But in order to make those dreams come true, he had to get the grades he wanted to get into the right colleges and that meant that he had to get tutored for math.

His instructor for math was a very caring person when it came to his students because he wanted everyone to reach their full potential, and if he sees that students weren’t at all putting an effort into that, he suggests that he look into getting a tutor and assigns them one of the scholars in the student center or the tutoring center of the campus.

The school bell sounded for first period. Derek had just made his way down the hall, rushing to the second floor of the building before he was marked tardy. A Hale was never tardy, and for Derek not to be punctual was something that through him off. He liked being on time, and tardiness was never an option. Finally reaching his classroom door, he stepped into the murmuring classroom and looked for his usual seat at the back. Then, he felt a tap on his shoulder from his math instructor, Mr. Horvath. The wannabe-mathematician leaned in and whispered, “Derek, see me after class”, before gesturing for him to take his seat before starting their usual morning routine.

Throughout the whole class time, all Derek could think of was his grades for this class. ‘He’s probably going to give me more bad news about my grades. Ugh, I don’t need someone to tell me what I already know.’ The teen was frustrated, unable to concentrate on the lesson of the day. But it’s not like this wasn’t an everyday thing. Derek never understood any of the lessons that the class learned. He felt as if he was the dumbest human being on earth for not even understanding any of it. ‘I really hate this class. Why do I even have to take it anyway? I don’t need to know this stuff. I want to become a writer, and author, not some whack-job with an obsession with numbers.’ His train of thought was cut off by the sound of the bell signaling for a break. His fellow peers scrambled against the door as clusters as at time exited out of the classroom, leaving Derek to stand in front of his teacher’s desk, waiting for the lecture that he could most likely care less about.

“Derek,” Mr. Horvath started, “I don’t like this. Your test grades are getting worse by the week. What’s going on?”

It took Derek a while for him to reply. “I just hate math.”

“That’s no excuse to be slacking off. It’s better to just get it over with now and study than worry about failing the class.”

The teenager just shrugged, followed by a sigh from the concerned teacher. He watched as the instructor pulled out his Sticky Notes, writing something on it with a blue pen on the yellow canvas before peeling a sheet off.

“This is the tutor I want you to go and see. He’s a very bright kid and can help you. I’ve already arranged a meeting for you in the tutoring center today during lunch. You’ve got great potential, Derek. I just think that you need a bit more help to understand at least the basics of algebra despite how confusing it can be.”

Derek scanned the note with a nonchalant expression on his face and sighed, slipping the note into his textbook before nodding. “Okay, I’ll see to it.”

“That’s the spirit.”

Derek turned to walk to the exit, rolling his eyes as he exited out of the classroom and out to the main hallway where students clustered against lockers and gossiped about latest news. The one thing about Derek was that he was fond of being alone. He didn’t like socializing at all because he thought that people would just slow him down from his studies, regardless if he’s passing most of his classes. Sometimes people would shoot him looks, only to see memories about the Hale Fire that happened when they were children. That’s all they saw whenever they gave a glance at the dark-haired boy. 

Sadness; pity; sympathy. Despite some girls giggling whenever he would walk by, he never paid attention to anyone. Always sat alone somewhere in the courtyard of the school, eating his lunch at a table alone, or driving off campus for lunch in his black Camaro his uncle bought him for his sixteenth birthday. He never bothered with anyone, so they shouldn’t bother him. He was fine by himself, and he was okay with that.

The day dragged on, passing through multiple periods and classes of the day as students continued with their daily activities. And then came lunch, the one time of today that Derek now dreaded. He had no choice but to get to the tutoring center and get this thing over with. When he reached into his back pack to get out the note inside of his algebra textbook, he studied the writing and the details as he made his way over to the other side of the campus where the tutoring center was located and entered the silent room.

The tutoring center was filled with bookshelves, mainly for reference in case some tutors needed to teach something that could be referenced in one of these books. Although the school had an actual library, the center was mainly used for references and studies rather than just novels and reading books for pleasure. The floor was carpeted in a shade of seas green. Derek glanced around each table, with some students already being assisted in some of them. He glanced over at an empty table and sat there waiting for the tutor.

Fifteen minutes after the lunch bell sounded and still no sign of his tutor, until finally the door opened once again revealing a younger looking boy with glasses and a satchel hanging on the side of his right hip. It was the sheriff’s son. Derek knew him, but he was never mutual with him. He just heard that he was the sheriff’s son and that’s it. He seemed to be rushed today as he approached the table where Derek had taken a seat in.

“Sorry, sorry,” the boy apologized. “I was caught in traffic in the hallways.”

“You’re late,” Derek grunted.

“Punctuality isn’t really my thing. So, I’m Stiles,” the younger teen replied, extending a hand.

“Your name is Stiles?”

“Yes, what of it?”

“Who names their kid Stiles?”

“Hey now, it’s better than my actual name. And trust me you don’t even want to know, so.”

“Whatever, let’s just get this thing over with.”

Stiles nodded as he stood going over to the book shelves, scanning through the various books until he finally found one he was looking for and returning to the table, throwing open the book cover and looking for the desired lesson.

“So, your teacher tells me that you’re really bad at math.”

“Well that’s pretty straight-forward of you.”

Stiles chuckled. “Sorry, it’s best to realize and acknowledge what you are bad at in order to overcome it and become exceptionally good at it.”

“That doesn’t make any sense,” Derek scoffed.

“What I mean is, just because you’re bad at math doesn’t mean there isn’t a way to become good at it. Not until you try.”

Derek sighed and flaunted his hand in the air removing the thought. “Can’t you just teach me something?”

“Okay,” Stiles remarked as he found the page he was looking for. “So, the Pythagorean Theorem. The theorem is used to describe a right triangle which has an opposite side, an adjacent side, and a hypotenuse. It’s called a right triangle…” Derek’s mind trailed off. His attention focused on a blank spot on the page of the book as his mind wandered away somewhere. All he could think of was how stupid this was. He didn’t need to be taught. He could teach his own self. But despite that option, he hated math and he didn’t have time for something that he didn’t like. And he basically had no choice but to be taught by and underclassman. “…equals c-squared- Derek!”

Stiles snapped him back into reality, snapping his fingers in front of his face that caused the older boy to blink himself back to realizing that he had trailed off. “Focus here!” Stiles exclaimed.

“Well you would be pretty bored too on a subject that you’ve dreaded for practically your whole life.”

“Doesn’t matter, you can still learn it, and then in the near future, it may not be so bad after all.”

Derek rolled his eyes and focused his attention to the lesson that the younger student was continuing to teach him. The topic they were discussing was difficult to understand, but at least Derek finally got a grasp as to what its basics were. After almost an hour or tutoring, which is practically the whole lunch time they had, the sound of the bell broke off their lesson for the start of the last period of the day. Derek was relieved; he didn’t think he could spend another minute in this hell hole he would count as detention. He stood from his seat and gathered his things before hurrying for the exit.

“So tomorrow, right?” Stiles called out.

Derek turned around and blinked. “What?”

“Tomorrow? Lunch time again? You still have a lot to learn, you know.”

“But I thought this was just a one day thing.”

Stiles chuckled which might’ve formed into a short laugh. “No no no, that’s not how it works. You need way more time until you’ve proven you don’t need to be tutored. So until then, tomorrow. And don’t be late.”

Derek scoffed. “Speak for yourself.” And with that, he exited the tutoring center and headed towards his most admired class of the day, English.

This class soothed Derek because they always had something to do that would interest him, especially writing prompts of things that his teacher would give her students to write on as a daily class assignment. Whatever topic she gives them, the students would write a short essay about it, or even a poem or a short story. Derek had a passion for writing, he always had. A paper was something that gave his mind full of wonder because there were infinite amount of things, ideas, words that he could jot down and write about. The possibilities were endless when it comes to writing on a sheet of paper. Appeased by the positive atmosphere around him, he was bummed as usual for the bell to sound the dismissal for the school day.

He gathered his things and exited the door and out to the main hallway, making his way towards the exit of the school when suddenly someone called out his name. This was something rare to him because frankly, no one ever called his name. Heck, no one ever calls him in general. So it was very unusual for him for someone to be talking, or shouting right across the hall calling out for him. He raised a brow as he turned around looking for the culprit the voice belonged to. He exchanged blank looks with some of the students in the crowd when he finally spotted who it belonged to.

It was Stiles, trying to get through most of the students that were in his way. Finally reaching the older teen, he held out a TI-83 calculator out to Derek. “You forgot your calculator in the tutoring center, so I thought I’d look for you and give it back to you.”

He slowly reached for the device. “And tomorrow couldn’t wait?”

“Nah, I figured that it’s best to give it to you now in case you had homework.”

Derek just nodded in response before exiting through the doors, leaving Stiles to stand in his spot. He thought that the more he talked, the more the delay to getting home and getting started on his essays and homework.

“So I’ll see you tomorrow then!” Stiles called out. Derek didn’t bother turning around as he continued making his way towards his car in the student parking lot. Sliding into the driver’s seat and tossing his things into the passenger seat beside him, he ignited the engine and was on his way home; finally away from the hell hole they called “school”.

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

The alarm sounded. 6:30am, it read in bold red numbers. Derek smacked the device to shut it off before climbing out of bed, throwing his blanket over him as he crossed the room to get into his bathroom. Derek’s bedroom was what some would describe as a teen’s dream bedroom. The bed was set on a stage with curtains draped overhead around the bed. The walls were the color of beige with an outline of gray in the corners of the walls. His bedroom was huge, accustomed to his liking with a flat screen television screen, his X-Box Kinect, a portable working station with his own laptop, printer, and scanner, and his very own bathroom.

Sometimes Derek would think that his uncle spoils him and his sister too much, but hey. The guy owned his own real estate business so he had the power to spoil the teens since he didn’t have teenagers of his own. Plus, Peter promised that if anything were to happen to their parents, he would be the first one to be turned to for taking care of the kids.

Derek wasted no time getting ready for school. He liked arriving early just to get a head start on studying for any class and getting some last minute homework done. Except math, he didn’t really bother with that subject even though he tried to work on some of the problems the night before. So he just left it aside for later. It’s not like it was due today. The homework was always scheduled to be due only on test days.

Finally arriving on campus, he made his way over to his usual spot where he would sit at lunch. Having more than an hour and a half before his first class started, Derek took out his book for biology and grabbed a sheet of paper, scribbling down important notes to remember for the upcoming test in a few days. This was the only time Derek had time to study besides going home. But usually whenever he’s home, sometimes he’d have other things to do like help his uncle with the grocery shopping and even some chores. He wished that his sister was still here living with them, but she was off to college already finishing her major as a business woman.

A smack of textbooks on the table startled Derek, causing him to lose his train of thought as he lifted his head up to find out who it was that had the nerve to disturb his peace and quietness. He met with Stiles’ eyes.

“Stiles, what the hell!” He exclaimed.

“Jesus, morning to you too, Derek. Are you always grumpy in the morning or was that just your regular attitude?” Stiles replied sarcastically. Derek rolled his eyes and turned his attention back to his notes, trying to not be aware of the other body that was sitting across him. But that most likely failed due to the fact that the other teen kept trying to make conversation with him.

“How come you’re here so early?” Stiles asked. Derek didn’t reply. A few minutes later, Stiles asked again while reaching forward to look at his textbook, “What class is that for?” Again this went on constantly for a good ten minutes before Derek snapped. 

“Is there something you wanted, did I forget another thing?” Derek asked in an annoyed manner. 'Seriously, what is up with this kid?'

“No no, I was just asking. But now that I have your attention, what’re you doing here so early?”

Derek rolled his eyes once again. “I’m studying, can’t you tell?”

“I see, for what class?”

Derek slapped his arms onto his text book. “Biology. Anything else?”

Stiles shook his head, “Nope, that’s all. Remember, today at lunch.” Stiles stood up from his seat and grabbed his textbooks, holding it onto his chest as he pointed at Derek with his index finger. “Don’t be late.”

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Derek roamed the halls after the bell for lunch rang. Maneuvering through students that were doing things that disrupted getting from point A to point B was sometimes frustrating to Derek. Like one time, the lacrosse jocks were tossing the ball to each other across the hall as if they were in the actual playing field. Another time was when arguments took place in the middle of the hallway where everyone would stop to pay attention to what was going on, delaying and stopping anyone from getting in the way of the frozen crowd that was dazed by the situation. Derek hated things that slowed him down, all the more reason why he didn’t have any friends anymore. The teen thought that friends would just become another setback from his studies, even though he did have friends in the past but was forced to leave them after realizing that fact and also something about misleading him with his trust.

Approaching the tutoring center, he caught sight of Stiles conversing with another younger boy, looking about the same age as him. His skin was lightly tanned and his hair was like a mess as if he never bothered to comb it. Once Stiles met eye contact with Derek, he hand-shaked with the boy before addressing him to go away as Derek approached.

“Come on, come on. Time is precious,” Stiles joked, although Derek didn’t have the sense of humor to even chuckle. He just scowled before entering the center, trailing behind Stiles to the table they were sitting at the previous day.

Again the underclassman continued to give tips and advice to the senior for studying and helping him with trying to understand what the teacher is presenting. To Derek, he thought that it would be embarrassing if anyone saw him being taught by an underclassman that seemed to know much more than he did. But surprisingly, he listened carefully, not because he wanted to but because he had no choice to. If he wanted to ace that class, he would have to give it his all, even if his tutor was particularly annoying and sometimes going off topic. But to his surprise, Derek actually understood what Stiles had explained and took in a minute to interpret whatever he says before moving on to the next topic.

“Do you get it?” Stiles questioned.

“Surprisingly, yes,” Derek replied with a blatant nod. Stiles grinned and clapped his hands together.

“Alright, now we’re getting somewhere!” Derek rolled his eyes as he continued paying attention to Stiles as the two bonded over theorems and formulas over the next hour before being dismissed to get to the last period of the day. After gathering the things, Derek exited the center, with Stiles trailing behind him before actually walking beside him.

“So, what’s your next class?”

“You’re seriously following me now? What is this, like a buddy system?”

Stiles chuckled. “No, this is actually my way to my next class.”

“English.”

“Nice, so you like writing?” Derek stayed silent as he approached the door of his classroom.

“Sorta.”

Stiles nodded in response before Derek opened the Plexiglas door. “So tomorrow, lunch again. Don’t be late.”

“Stiles, I’m never late,” Derek replied as he entered the classroom. He could hear the younger teen chuckle before closing the door, rolling his eyes as he took his seat for the day. There was probably no way of escaping this tutoring unless Derek proved that he was finally passing his math class. And frankly, he should thank Stiles for actually taking his time to teach him. Hell, he didn’t even know if he was struggling in other classes or not. But then again, what tutor did? If he was a tutor, then Derek guessed that he must’ve been a straight-A student capable of passing any subject or course that was handed over to them. Derek scoffed before taking his seat, impatiently waited for the day to end.


	2. A Movie

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who reviewed and left comments. It warms my heart to see that people do enjoy reading what I write. Even to the people who bookmark and send kudos on AO3 and story favorites and follows on Fanfiction. They are all greatly appreciated.

It was Thursday. Derek didn’t want to come in today. He couldn’t afford to sit in class not even knowing that the hell his teacher was talking about. He’d always feel vulnerable whenever he doesn’t know something that he should. But nonetheless, he came anyway and was feeling prepared and ready, even though he wasn’t actually ready for his math class. This class is definitely going to be the death of him.

Derek slouched in his seat until his forehead met with his arms, providing themselves as a pillow for Derek’s head as he rested it onto the table. It wasn’t that he was feeling sleepy. It was just that he didn’t feel like paying attention because he knew that he wasn’t going to understand anyway.

“Mr. Hale!” his instructor called out. His head shot up and began scribbling notes as if he was really paying attention. Finally he gave into the lesson and started to listen carefully to his teacher.

Surprisingly, he found this lesson quite easy to understand. Although some parts were kind of vague, he’d probably leave it to Stiles to teach him and get him on track before he forgets again and then back into that darkness of failure he would go down into. He needed to focus; he needed to be able to understand so that he could pass his tests, get better grades, and stop being tutored by someone who was younger than him, which he still felt embarrassed about.

The class ended; students gathered their things and left for their next class. Derek didn’t feel like going to his next class because he needed time to think and some time to gather what he had just learned. He didn’t care about his other classes because he was doing exceptionally well in them. Some instructors would consider him to be one of their top students. But for math, not so much, and Derek felt like a failure because of that.

He picked his usual spot where he would usually sit at in the courtyard. Getting out his text book and notebook he began to do some quick studying as he skimmed through the pages of their current lessons, jotting down things to note when doing certain problems and memorizing formulas that were required to solve some of them. The one thing he hated about math is the word problems. Word problems were such a bitch to him whenever it came to math. Although he had remembered in his previous years where they taught him how to translate words into numbers, it’s still unclear to him because of how the wording is set up. It wasn’t long enough before someone interrupted him.

“Derek?”

The senior closed his eyes and let out a breath of frustration as he knew who that voice belonged to, and it was none other than his beloved tutor, making his way over here to sit down across from him.

“Fancy meeting you here,” Stiles chuckled.

“Aren’t you supposed to be in class right now?” Derek questioned.

“I could be asking you the same thing.”

Derek didn’t respond; he just carried on with whatever he was doing until Stiles was continuously trying to make an effort to start a conversation, talking about random things like the weather, local news, subjects from some of his classes. For some odd reason, Derek was slowly getting used to this.

For the past few days and the following week, his tutoring sessions were all the same, even after his lessons. Sometimes Stiles would go off track a bit and talk about something else until Derek would snap out of it and direct him back to the lesson he was trying to learn. And now the two were practically together after lunch, walking to get to each others’ classes since they were in the same hallway. Although some people shot them looks, he didn’t mind it even though Stiles could be somewhat annoying.

On Friday, Derek had a math test coming up that involved the things that they discussed during the week, which was also what Stiles had been teaching him as well so that he could help Derek stay on track with the lessons. When Mr. Horvath handed out the test papers, Derek stared at it like it was from another planet.

“You may begin,” signaled the math instructor.

The first question was odd, so he had decided to skip some of the hard questions and focus on the ones that he knew, and surprisingly, he was beginning to find that most of the questions were actually easy to solve. To his surprise, he finished more than half of the questions without leaving anything blank. But just to make sure, he doubled – even tripled – checking his answers before turning his test paper in. His instructor examined his paper until he looked up.

“See me after class,” the man whispered. This gave Derek no sign of hope and the one thing that immediately popped into his mind was that he probably gave all the wrong answers to the test and probably read some of the questions wrong. Derek slouched in his desk and sighed, waiting for the time to pass until it was time to go. He approached his teacher’s desk and waited until everyone was out. Mr. Horvath took out his test paper and handed it to Derek faced down, with the grade on the other side. He slowly turned the paper over and glanced at the numbers in red ink. ‘91’.

Derek was taken aback by this and raised both his eyebrows, mouth-agape as he stared at his passing grade. He glanced at his instructor who was shooting him a grin. “No way,” was what Derek could come up with to say. His instructor chuckled.

“I thought the same when I was grading your paper. It looks like those tutoring lessons are really paying off after all.”

Derek nodded. “Yes, sir.”

“You should thank Stiles. He’s a really great kid you know.”

Again his response was a nod as he stood up, thanking the teacher for handing in his grade before slipping the paper into his backpack as he exited the classroom. His teacher was right. Stiles was a big help into earning that grade. He probably would’ve gotten a failing grade if it weren’t for him. Derek thought about it. The younger teen really was working hard to help Derek become able to pass his tests so that he wouldn’t fall behind. But it was just one test, so Derek wasn’t quite sure if this was just a once in a lifetime miracle happening.

During lunch, he waited for Stiles in the tutoring center, waiting to thank him and show him his test paper. For some reason, he found himself sitting there for almost forty-five minutes, already getting impatient of waiting for the boy. Finally, he had a feeling that he probably called in sick today or something came up so he wasn’t able to make it. Derek sighed, gathering his things before heading out the door, only to bump into the boy he was looking for, knocking himself down onto the floor.

“Stiles, watch where you’re going!” Derek gave a hand out to him and pulled him up, straightening his clothes before looking at him. “Where were you?”

“I’m so sorry, I completely lost track of time.”

Derek sighed once more, shaking his head as he reached into his bag to take out the test paper, pushing it onto Stiles’ chest. “Here.” And with that, he was left walking towards his next class to wait for the bell to ring. He was looking forward to thanking him, but apparently Derek wasn’t happy about Stiles making him wait there the whole lunch time when he could’ve been going out to get something to eat. He could hear Stiles call out to him, but he ignored it until he felt a hand on his shoulder causing him to stop in place.

“Derek, I’m sorry. I didn’t know that you were going to show me this. I was just hanging with my friends and I completely lost track of time. Plus I didn’t know you were coming in today since you had mentioned yesterday that today was the day of your test so I figured that you wanted the day off. That was until one of the other tutors sent me a text message saying that you’ve been in there waiting for almost the whole hour-“

“It’s fine,” Derek cut him off.

Stiles sighed and offered to walk him to class as he always did, congratulating him on his grade on the test and how he saw full potential in him. Stiles had also invited him to go and watch a movie with him and some of his friends, as a reward for his success in acing the test. But like Derek, he wasn’t the time to go out especially with people he’d never met before.

“Uh, no thanks.”

“What, how come?” Stiles whined.

“I’m- I don’t… go out with people I haven’t met before,” Derek replied.

“Oh come one, it’ll be fun. Here, toss me your phone.”

Derek blinked. “What?”

“Give me your phone.”

Derek spoke no further and slowly reached for his phone handing it to Stiles, watching him fidget through the buttons and tapping the touch screen, even taking a picture of himself before giving back the phone to its rightful owner.

“There, now you have my number.” A ring coming from Stiles’ front pocket was heard, and Derek watched him take it out, showing the message to him. “And now I have yours.”

“Was that really necessary?”

Stiles chuckled and continued walking him to class, not bothering to respond to that question.

For about two weeks, the tutoring sessions have gone as planned, with Derek already bumping up his grade from a low D to a high B because of his tests and homework that he was able to complete. Going to see a tutor was the best thing that could happen for him in this class, and he had Stiles to thank for that, giving in his time to make sure that the older teen passed his classes.

It’s weird though, for Derek at least. He had never actually gotten used to something new until Stiles came along. Now they were practically hanging out in the mornings before classes started. And surprisingly, Derek didn’t mind anymore. His company was appreciated by the grumpy senior, even though the buzz-cut teenager never fails to try to start conversations Derek might not want to get himself into since he was trying to study. Derek couldn’t put his finger on it, but something about being around Stiles was kind of… nice, for a change.

After almost a month of being tutored, he had already gotten used to their daily routine during lunch in the tutoring center. But he had a feeling that this might not last long because Mr. Horvath only recommended the tutoring because he was practically failing his class. Now that he saw Derek’s full potential, he had a feeling that he would revoke his access to the center since he looked like he didn’t need it anymore. And that thing just did so happen.

The last test was his final straw. The math instructor congratulated him on his continuing success in acing the past tests and told Derek that he was no longer required to be tutored seeing that he already knows how to do the next lessons already. Derek nodded. One good thing about this was that he was finally able to get his grades up. The bad thing about it was that he would be spending less or even no time at all with Stiles. And since Derek was already used to seeing his face every single day, not having to see him would be kind of… off for him. Not being able to hear the boy’s obnoxious voice would be weird considering that he had already grown into it, and to be honest, Stiles had grown onto him as well.

That Friday, Derek stepped into the tutoring center, glancing around the room to find if Stiles was in there. Thankfully, he was sitting at the table where they would usually sit. He walked over to the younger teen and greeted him, taking a seat from across him.

“Hey,” Stiles greeted.

“Hey,” Derek replied.

“So how was it? The test, I mean.”

“I aced it.”

Stiles grinned and nodded, looking over Derek’s test as the older teen handed it to him, looking over his answers and work, still putting that grin upon his face. Derek took this time to study him. Stiles grin was something that was… soothing to him. He could easily tell that he was a very happy person just by his smile and not to mention his happy-go-lucky attitude. The boy looked up, his brown eyes looking back at Derek’s, handing him his paper. Then suddenly, Derek’s head hung.

“What’s wrong?” Stiles asked as he bent down to get a clear view of his face. Derek sighed.

“My instructor told me that I don’t need any tutoring anymore since I’m able to do the test and homework by myself now. So…” Derek trailed off after that. ‘Why am I feeling so down about this? Just tell go already. He probably had other things to do than become sympathetic for you.’ But he could find the courage to leave. He wasn’t really a person who knew how to started and continue a conversation because then he would just trail off and then the whole moment would just become awkward for the both of them.

Stiles sensed why he was so bummed it. To Stiles, Derek had grown onto him too. He was now used to seeing the grumpy senior every day ever since he was assigned to have him tutored the first day he came through those doors. For Stiles, he would be happy to teach anyone and let them go once they’ve finally felt ready to be set free. But for Derek, that was another case. The boy sighed.

“Hey, don’t be so down about it. It means that you’re ready to do it on your own now. And I’m pretty sure that you’ve had enough of my help.”

Derek just nodded, toying with his fingers as his head continued to hang.

“But…” Stiles began, causing Derek to tilt his head up, eager to see what Stiles had to say. “My friends and I are having a movie night at Lydia’s tonight. Wanna come?”

Derek took this in. This was the second time that he had offered him a movie date with him. ‘Wait… this isn’t a date. Why on earth would you think this was a date?’ Derek shook the thought away before he responded. “Uh… how many of you are there?”

Stiles chuckled. “Just seven.”

Derek scoffed. ‘Just seven. Yeah right, seven sounds like a lot of people to me considering the amount of people I hang out with, which was oh let me see, none.’ “I don’t think your friends would want a stranger in their presence.”

“Come on, grumpy. That’s why I’m going to introduce you to them, silly.” Stiles nudged him from across the table, causing Derek to chuckle.

Stiles heard his chuckle. “So is that a yes?”

Derek sighed again. “Fine.” His response caused Stiles to cheer a bit too loud, causing the rest of the human bodies in the room to shush him up, with Stiles apologizing after.

“The thing is, I don’t even know where your friend’s house is.”

“Which is why you’re going to pick me up, sweetheart! I see you’re just trying to woo me into getting me into your nice sports car and take me for a romantic drive,” Stiles joked, laughing a bit after. 

Derek just rolled his eyes at the sarcasm.

“I’ll show you where it is. I’ll text you my address and then it’ll go from there. And remember don’t be late.”

“Funny, you talking about punctuality.”

Stiles chucked before winking, gathering his things as he made his way to the door and exiting out of the room. Derek did the same a few moments after, sighing and shaking his head. ‘This was a bad idea.’ He started to make his way to the cafeteria. Apparently most of the seniors and juniors had decided to take all of their cars today, which was pretty bizarre to him because he had never seen the front parking lot absolutely crowded without any sign of a free parking space. The only other option was to get to the back parking lot, despite the horrid and rancid smell of the dumpsters and countless blots of food stains on the walls with flies swarming around them. He would use the outer way, but that was going take him much more time and he wanted to grab a bite to eat somewhere outside of the school.

Entering the cafeteria gave the older teen such a headache. He had never eaten in the cafeteria just for this purpose. It was loud, chattering and conversations coming from all around the room. Making way through countless tables, he suddenly caught sight of Stiles, surrounded by people who he guessed to be his friends. Apparently they were talking about something serious because he didn’t look so happy-go-lucky anymore. As he slowly made his way to the exit, he unexpectedly made eye contact with Stiles, who was giving him a warm smile from afar. Derek nodded from afar to the younger boy. And also apparently the group around him saw Stiles’ facial expression and drew an invisible line to connect where he was looking at. All were now focused on Derek, who was suddenly hurrying out with a slight blush on his face. ‘Wait, did I just blush? No wonder why I don’t have any friends.’

$ $ $ $ $ $ $ $

Derek contemplated in his room whether he would go or not. The only thing that was holding him back was the fact that he had to take Stiles to the movie date. ‘How many times to I have to remind myself that this is not a date. I don’t think I could even go to this. This is not like me. I don’t go to people’s houses just to watch a movie. I could do that he, we have a underground theatre for goodness sake.’ He paced his room slowly, looking out at the window to see that the sun was already making its path behind the hills and trees to call it a day. The sound of his phone ringing in his front pocket made him flinch as he grabbed it out and slid the screen to unlock it.

im ready to be picked up darling! My house is just a few blocks away from the station. You’ll see me standing outside.

Derek rolled his eyes before sending him a text, grabbing his black jacket before exiting out of the house with his keys and wallet.

Coming.

Hopping into his car and pulling out of the six-car garage, he took off looking to pass the station where he then slowed his speed, carefully looking at each house both left and right to try and find Stiles who claimed that he was standing right outside. He was suddenly cut off by a hand banging slightly on his passenger side window, forcing him to stop the car, watching the door open and the hyperactive teenager that came inside.

“And you live where exactly?” Derek asked, a bit annoyed.

“A few blocks down that way,” Stiles pointed to the direction behind him.

Derek just grunted before driving down the street until he was on the main road. After a few minutes of driving and countless attempts to try and understand the directions that Stiles was giving him, they finally reached to Lydia’s house. Derek saw at least three cars parked out in front of the house, therefore he had to park across the street, hoping that none of the neighbors were going to call someone to tow it.

“This is a bad idea,” Derek mentioned. Stiles turned his head as he was about to open the door.

“What? Why?”

“Stiles, I don’t know these people and quite frankly I don’t think they’d want to get to know me either,” Derek replied in a cold tone.

“Lighten up, will you? You haven’t even met them yet so get out and let’s get inside. I’ve already gotten more than enough text messages from Scott asking where we are.”

Derek grumbled something under his breath before stepping out of the car, locking it and making sure that the doors were secured. The way Stiles mentioned his friends, it was as if he thought that Derek knew them, which he actually don’t. But everyone knew Derek. Who wouldn’t miss the lonely, but very attractive senior in school. It’s just something that you wouldn’t miss in a high school. You’d think that Derek was worthy enough to join in with Lydia’s clique, but no. Derek was all for the loneliness, but look how long that lasted. ‘I can’t believe I’m about to do this. But since he’s so happy to have me with him, I guess it wouldn’t hurt.’

Trailing behind Stiles, the younger teen opened the door to the house signaling Derek to come inside. Derek was very hesitant to do this, but nevertheless he was finally able to step inside even though it took him what seemed like centuries. He was welcomed by the sounds of laughter coming from somewhere in the house. Apparently he was welcomed by a hallway he guessed that led into the living room. It was as if Stiles had forgotten that Derek was with him for a moment considering that he just power walked into the living room, and all his friends began greeting him, hearing his name being mentioned a few times and a few questions of why they came late.

“Hold on. Just a sec.” Stiles stood at the other end of the hallway, gesturing with a wave of his hand to get over to the living room. It was as if Derek became deaf because the once loud living room was now filled with silence. He could even hear a high pitched tone right beside his ear as he slowly made his way into the living room, hands in his jacket pockets as he appeared in the midst of the other teenagers.

Derek studied the group and the room itself. There were three couches each situated next to each other. One in the middle and two on the side. Sitting in the couch in the middle was the messy-haired boy that he had seen from earlier today along with who he guessed to be his girlfriend. Sitting right next to them were two boys. One of them was smiling, showing off his dimples on either side of his face as he studied Derek. ‘Is he staring me down?’ The other boy, having curly blonde hair, had his elbow resting on the arm rest of the couch as he flashed a mutual smile as the other three were giving off. The couch on the right side was occupied by one of the jocks of the lacrosse team he had guessed to be Jackson. Jackson and Derek were sort of mutual to each other, but have never actually talked nor even glanced at one another when passing through the halls at school. And of course, the strawberry blonde girl that he had his arms all over was guessed to be Lydia. Who didn’t know Lydia anyway. ‘I’m even surprised that Stiles is in her clique.’ After what seemed like hours and hours of studying the room which only happened to be a slight few seconds, he felt Stiles’ arm being thrown over his shoulders, and although Derek didn’t liked to be touched, he just clenched his jaw a little and let out a gentle and calm sigh.

“Guys, this is Derek. You know, the one I’ve been telling you about,” Stiles introduced. 

‘The one he’s been what?’

Derek nodded at the sitting teenagers, who were practically getting up and moving towards him. Derek felt like he was a new toy ready to be mauled my puppies and dogs, but he held his composure and shrugged off the feeling of invading his personal space.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you,” the other girl grinned. Before any other person spoke, Stiles interrupted.

“Derek, this is Scott.” He moved over to the messy-haired boy, punching him playfully in the forearm. “My buddy for life. Unfortunately.”

“Hey,” Scott intervened. Stiles also introduced the girl he was sitting next to, which was Allison who also happened to be Scott’s girlfriend. ‘Oh, thank goodness… wait, what?’ He then moved over to the dimpled boy who he introduced as Danny, Jackson’s best friend. Then to Isaac, who seemed to be acting very shy for some reason, but Derek probably guessed that it’s probably his normal attitude. Lydia of all people you’d expect introduced herself.

“Hi. Lydia Martin, Beacon Hills fashionista and titled most popular girl in school. I’m sure you’ve heard of me. But the only question is why haven’t I heard of you?” She trailed that question as she trailed her eyes down Derek’s body, causing the senior to raise a brow and turn his gaze over to Jackson, who got the idea to control his girlfriend, gesturing them back to the couch.

“We’re finally glad you came, man,” Scott said in a warm attitude. “Stiles couldn’t stop talking about y-“

“Okay!” Stiles interrupted as he pushed Scott back to the couch he was sitting on along with Allison, “how about that movie.”

Derek chuckled and followed Stiles to the only vacant couch in the room. Derek seemed somewhat amused, but also partly confused. What did Stiles meant by when he said ‘the one he’s been telling them about’?

“So Derek,” Jackson spoke. “Heard the little brat’s been teaching you about numbers.” Derek narrowed his eyes a little at the mention of the word ‘brat’, but not enough for anyone to notice. ‘Don’t call him that.’ “Don’t you think it’s a, uh, a little embarrassing to have a sophomore tutor a senior?”

“Jackson, just shut up,” Stiles rolled his eyes. “Not everyone’s good at math, okay.”

“It’s fine, Stiles,” Derek spoke, finally letting the group hear his voice for the first time. He then gazed his attention back to Jackson. “Heard you know how to handle a stick, and balls.”

The rest of the gang couldn’t help but snicker amongst themselves, while Jackson tried to hide his clenching of his jaw and his blush. Even Lydia seemed to be amused. “Oooh, I like his sass. Stiles, you really know how to pic-“

“Okay! The movie!” Stiles shot up from his seat and started looking through Lydia’s DVD collection before popping in Avatar. Some of the boys groaned.

“Stiles,” Danny whined, “this is the third time in a row.”

“Well we’re not going to watch anything related to the romance category, what with the already evened out singles and couples in this room.” Most of them rolled their eyes before he returned to his seat and soaking in the atmosphere. Luckily the snacks and drinks were already prepared on the coffee table in front of them and everyone grabbed a bag of chips as they waited for the movie to begin.

Occasionally, Derek would reach in for Stiles’ bag of chips that he was holding just to get something to munch on while watching the movie. But since he’d already seen it, he was just trying to put in his best interested look just for him so that he wouldn’t feel so bummed about forcing him into watching something that Derek looked like he had already watched.

Stiles leaned over and whispered into Derek’s ear, which was unexpected and caused him to send chills down his spine because of the way Stiles was breathing into it. “I’m really glad you came.” ‘There’s only one way that I could’ve interpret that and I’m not going to start thinking about that now because of how inappropriate that sounded.’ Derek turned his attention to Stiles and nodded, followed by a light nudge by Stiles before the both of the turned their attention back to the movie.

After almost two hours of staring into the screen, the movie finally came to its ending. Derek looked around the room. Apparently some of them fell asleep during the movie. Yeah, you’d fall asleep too if you had to be forced to watch that movie the third Friday in a row. Lydia mentioned before the movie started to remind herself to pick someone else to choose the movie next time. Allison had fallen asleep, head leaning against Scott’s chest as he had his arm wrapped around her. Lydia and Jackson went upstairs just forty-five minutes into the movie. Isaac took the couch that was once occupied by the popular couple and fell asleep on it while Danny and Scott were almost half awake. Stiles and Derek on the other had happened to be the only ones still awake even though it was only 10:30 in the evening.

Stiles stood as he signaled Derek to follow him outside. Derek nodded as followed behind him, standing in front of the door as both males turned to face each other.

“So, any chance that you’ll want to do this again?” Stiles asked.

Derek chuckled softly. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“Oh come on, you were practically into the movie. I could see you. Your eyes were practically glued to the screen.”

“You were watching me?” This caused Stiles to blush a little, but the younger boy improvised with another excuse.

“Well I just wanted to make sure that you weren’t falling asleep like the others since, you know, you’re driving home and all.”

Derek nodded. “Right. Luckily I didn’t. So I guess you’re ready to go?”

“It’s okay, Scott’s gonna drive me home.”

“Are you sure? He seems half asleep already.”

“Don’t worry, my voice is enough to keep him awake.” Stiles chuckled, and pushed his fist into Derek’s chest lightly. “So I guess this is good night then?”

“Yeah, guess so.” Derek reached in for the door knob, opening the door and exiting out of the house before he Stiles spoke once again.

“Hey,” Stiles began, causing Derek to turn around. “Are you doing anything tomorrow?”

‘Lie. Say yes. Just say it so you don’t have to suffer a day that might end up with those other teens.’ “No.”

“Okay, good. Because you’re coming with us to the mall for an all-day hangout. And don’t say you can’t go at the last minute because I’ll be there to pick you up when you least expect me.”

Derek was going to say something but when Stiles mentioned that he absolutely had no option of having to reject his offer, he gave in and just kept quiet. He then nodded and slid his hands into his jacket pockets. “Alright then.”

Stiles grinned and waved goodbye before closing the door, leaving Derek to make his way back to his car and drive himself home safely. ‘What am I getting myself into.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, Derek. What in the world are you getting yourself into? Are you letting Stiles make you become weaker towards him? Oh come on, don’t be afraid to tell us. Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter. Thanks for all the positive things that came my way for this story. I was actually suppose to move the movie date to the next chapter but found that it would best fit if it would happen here since I just didn’t know how to end it with the perfect cliff hanger. See you all again soon!


	3. Mall Date Pt. 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to everyone who reviewed, commented, gave kudos, favorite, followed, and bookmarked this story. It is my motivation!

Derek woke up an hour early from when usually woke up for some reason he couldn’t put out. The clock on the nightstand beside him read 5:30AM. Derek groaned under the covers as he tried to attempt to get back to sleep. It was Saturday, he deserved to sleep in. But after a few failed tries, he cursed as he removed the blankets off of him, sitting on the side of the bed as he waited for his body to react for him to wake up.

He wanted to dread this day because it meant that he had to deal hanging out at the mall for the whole day with Stiles and his friends. Don’t get him wrong. There’s actually nothing wrong with them, most of them at least. It doesn’t surprise that Jackson was a bit of a douche when he first met him along with Lydia. Being the captain of the lacrosse team and deemed the most popular girl in school, it was like they were born to be together.

The young adult moved for the balcony of his bedroom, opening the glass door and closing it before leaning against the rails and staring at the gloomy sky that showed a hint of red as the sun was making its way towards the horizon. Sometimes Derek would come up here and think. Think about life, his past life, especially his life with his family before they were killed in the fire. The memories of his mother and father and sister having picnics together in their backyard; the memories of those times where they would have cross country road trips every summer as a family to adventure across the nation looking at its landmarks and experience the fast cultures it brought them. The good memories were the only things that were able to fuel his happiness. But since the fire happened, he completely forgot about what happiness was, despite a certain someone trying to remember what that was.

‘Sometimes you get yourself into things you don’t want to do, but do it anyway. You idiot.’

Derek sighed at his conscience, rolling his eyes as he stepped back into his room and made his way across the hall to the arcade where he spent the rest of the early morning watching VH1’s Top 20 countdown on music videos before making his way to the shower.

He didn’t actually know when Stiles was going to come, plus he was completely forgetful of his warning. Not knowing that Stiles had arrived ten minutes before Derek stepped out of the shower, Derek strolled down in his baby blue plaid boxers and into the kitchen, frozen to see his Uncle Peter chatting with the younger boy. Derek’s mouth was agape, unexpectedly blushing as Stiles stared back at him with the same facial expression before both of them simultaneously turning away to hide the blush. Derek regained his composure before speaking.

“Peter, what’re you doing with Stiles?”

“What, I was just getting to know my nephew’s first actual friend. Is that such a crime?”

Derek blushed a little at the mention of being Derek’s first actual friend. And it was true, in his past friendships; it didn’t really go too well. Plus, Derek was mostly the one trying to establish a ground-setting friendship, except that none of them actually stuck to him. Sometimes Derek could be a little… forceful when it comes to things he wants, especially when he needed a friend. But after countless fails of ever having a true one, he had stopped trying and with the help of the Hale Fire, that thought of ever needing a friend to hang onto ceased to exist.

Derek shook his head. “Uncle, Stiles doesn’t need to hear your perverted sarcasm as well as your inability to talk without making the atmosphere as awkward.”

Peter chuckled and Derek rolled his eyes. Then, Stiles jumped in. “Don’t worry, Der. Your uncle was just telling me about his successions. Don’t need to get all clingy with me.” Stiles winked and flashed a smirk.

“Okay, I think that’s about enough. Stiles come up. I think my uncle has had enough talking about himself for one day.”

Without turning back, Derek ran for the stairs before Stiles could even make his way to the bottom. It would obviously be awkward for Stiles having to stare at Derek’s bottom the whole way up, which Derek was totally aware of. ‘I wouldn’t want to make things awkward. But wait why do I care, Stiles is nothing more than just a friend so he shouldn’t mind. But wait, no one’s ever seen me in my boxers so this is obviously awkward from the start. But wait, Stiles didn’t have a problem with it so I don’t think he mind. But wait was he also blushing? Derek just shut up.’

After fighting against his conscience while waiting for Stiles to come into his room, the boy fled into his walk-in closet to find something to wear. Apparently he didn’t notice Stiles’ facial expression when they entered. He was practically in awe with everything. The things that Derek had in his room were what Stiles dreamed of having. A shelf full of the latest video games for Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3; a balcony that was situated where it would have the best view of the sunrise and sunset in Beacon Hills; an overhead projector facing to a blank wall to watch movies any time he’d like; a portable working station with an iMac with two connecting screens on either side. It was as if Stiles entered Donald Trump’s son’s room.

“I didn’t expect you to be up this early, let alone come here as early as eight in the morning,” Derek yelled from his closet. “How did you find out where I live anyway?”

“I have some connections,” Stiles replied in the same manner as he glanced over to the bean bag chairs where the gaming systems were lying. Stiles took the liberty to occupy the seat, keeping it warm as he waited for his new friend to come out of hiding.

After a few minutes of changing, Derek came out fully dressed in a black skinny jeans and a pitch black graphic tee with a triskelion imprinted on the center in the front. Stiles focused his attention on the symbol as Derek continued rummaging through his drawers to find things that Stiles didn’t have the attention to look into.

“What time are we actually supposed to get there anyway?” Derek asked.

“It’s an all day thing, and the mall opens in thirty minutes so I hope you’ve brought a lot of cash with you, erm, actually scratch that. You probably don’t need to worry anyway judging by your awesome room,” Stiles managed to say in one breath. Derek raised a row and shrugged as he combed his hair, looking into the mirror and pretending to not notice Stiles actually watching him. ‘Oh my god, he’s watching me. Why is he watching me? Do I have something on my shirt that I don’t know about? Are my pants too low? Oh god I told myself to get a belt but no I just wouldn’t listen to-‘

“Wow,” Stiles spoke in a soft voice. This made Derek pause as he looked at Stiles through the mirror.

“What?” Derek asked in curiosity.

Stiles blinked away and covered his mouth as a slight blush seemed to form on his face. But as always, Stiles had improvised.

“I meant uh wow you have such an awesome shirt like where in the world did you get it? I’d love to know where you got it so we can get matching ones… heh.”

“It was a gift from Peter,” Derek replied in an awkward fashion. Stiles nodded as he turned his head away to hide the sudden blush. Derek didn’t know what was going on in his mind but he really wanted to find out. ‘Wow? What did that mean? Was he like really staring?’

 

The drive to the Beacon Hills Mall wasn’t silent at all. Well at least from Stiles’ side of the car. Derek barely made any sort of conversation due to the fact that he hated talking while he was behind the wheel. He believes that he would probably lose his concentration on the road and get into an accident. And since it was Stiles in the passenger seat, he wouldn’t want that to happen.

“I can’t wait, there are so many things we’re going to do today,” Stiles said at one point, jumping in his seat from failing to contain his excitement. Derek chuckled and nodded as he constantly continued to glance at the rear view mirror every minute.

“Have you ever been to the mall?” asked the curious passenger.

“When I was a little boy,” Derek replied shortly.

“Are you telling me that you’ve haven’t been to the mall in over ten years??”

Derek replied with a shrug.

“Oh my god, I’m going to force you to follow me around and show you all the stuff we’re going to get you.”

“But Stiles-“

“No ‘buts’, mister! I have made my decision.”

“Oh so my decision doesn’t apply in this situation?”

“Nope, you’re going to listen to me as always. Only this time it won’t be in the tutoring center with you struggling to comprehend and understand every mathematical term that comes out of my mouth.”

Derek chuckled and shook his head in a playful way as they finally pulled into the parking lot of the mall.

The mall was huge, standing six stories high with the width of at least an average football field. It was very modern looking, way different from what Derek remembered, with what little memory of it he did have. They probably expanded and upgraded over the years so that would probably explain his lack of recognition.

“Whoa, it’s like I became an elf and the mall is the giant,” Derek joked. Stiles chuckled and threw and arm around his shoulder as he led them to the entrance.

“Relax,” Stiles said, “wait till you see the inside. The others should be here already. I see Jackson and Allison’s car already.”

The gang finally gathered at the entrance and entered the mall, the fresh scent of various cuisines and snacks coming from the food court situated at the right of the entrance. Scott’s stomach started to growl as if it were mimicking a mountain lion. Scott laughed and apologized, stating that he wasn’t able to eat yet. Allison followed her boyfriend, along with Lydia and Jackson and Danny and Isaac who were pretty hungry as well.

“Well fine!” Stiles exclaimed. “You guys just sit there and waste away the morning munching down some breakfast while Derek and I go shopping. Our stomachs can hold till noon.” Jackson rolled his eyes while the others nodded while proceeding to the local Subway and Olive Garden.

Derek was practically lost in awe because of the size of the mall. There were stores everywhere, especially clothing stores that had brands that he really wanted to get. But as usual, Derek put on his not-so-impressed look to try and keep his cool because an excited Derek is something that would be out of character for him and it would certainly feel weird for himself as well. But in the inside, he was screaming like a fan girl.

“Oooh! Let’s go here!” Stiles suggested in a vivacious manner as he led Derek into the Armani Exchange boutique. He’d been meaning to buy Danny some cologne as a thank you for helping Stiles out with his chemistry along with Scott. After twenty minutes of looking ofr the right fragrance, spraying countless bottles of cologne into the air that polluted it with its various mixed scents, the two boys exited out of the shop and paused at the entrance.

“Where do you want to look first? I’m sure there’s bound to be something that you want to get!”

Derek looked around and even on top of the other floors. He couldn’t choose where to go, until he spotted one clothing store at the other end of the isle, the Ecko Untld clothing store. Derek gestured Stiles to get him over there because obviously he didn’t want to get lost, and so he did, leading the lost puppy like a mother to the desired destination.

\--- Meanwhile at the Food Court ---

Around the table were the others; Jackson, Scott, Lydia, Isaac, Allison, and Danny. For the past ten minutes, the group has been munching down on the snacks that they had ordered for themselves and extra for when Stiles and Derek were in case hungry. Scott swallowed his last bite and wiped his mouth with the napkin before setting his arms on the table.

“Okay, so we all know why we’re here,” he announced.

“I still don’t get why we’re doing this when the two could’ve just made out during the movie night at my place,” Lydia immediately responded. Jackson rolled his eyes and continued chewing down on fries from McDonald’s.

“Hey come on guys,” Allison spoke, “Stiles is a very… compassionate person. We can’t push him into a relationship. He has to figure out how to do it himself, even though he hasn’t had one before.”

“Yeah, thanks to Lydia,” Scott sassed as he glanced his look to the strawberry blonde haired girl.

“Well it’s not my fault he has a crush on me, or well had.”

“Don’t you guys think that you’re going just a little too far with this?” Danny asked.

“No, we’re just trying to get Derek to like Stiles the way Stiles likes him,” Scott replied.

“Yeah, I mean it’s not like it isn’t that obvious that Stiles likes him more than he should. But the only thing that we have to know is if Derek feels the same way.”

“And if he does,” Lydia intervened, “then he is very, very good at hiding his emotions with that blank face of his.”

“Well,” Scott replied, “let’s hope we find that out today. If not, then I have a better plan.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so I know this sucked but I’ve been kind of busy this past week since mid-term is up. I will have part two of this chapter up in about a few days because I have to take care of some stuff.


	4. Mall Date Pt. 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again to all who followed and are still following up with this story. I love you all for reading. I do apologize that I had to make this into two separate chapters, plus I know that the previous one wasn’t long enough since it was like almost at 2500 words. Usually I make my chapters between 3750 and 4000. But hopefully this makes up for it!

At the stroke of noon, the group finally assembled together in the middle of the bottom floor, standing next to the Grand Fountain in its center. The group split into two; one was with Scott, Danny, Stiles, and Jackson, the other was Derek, Lydia, Allison, and Isaac. For some reason, Derek was feeling a bit lonely with the separation of the group, especially because Stiles wasn’t with him this time. The older teenager had been so used to having him around him that Stiles had actually grew onto him as an actual friend, or so he considers him as that.

For the past hour, Derek’s group had been tailing mostly Lydia and Allison around the mal, with Derek and Isaac following behind them as they entered through every boutique that was filled will blouses, spaghetti straps, tube skirts, leggings, stockings, high heels, gladiators, and anything else a girl would want to buy when she sees, or smells, a mall. Derek stuck around with Isaac whenever they would follower behind them. Surprisingly, Isaac was a pretty good listener. Derek came to realize that he was practically someone that he would actually be friends with. Isaac didn’t judge him and looked at him the same way others did. He didn’t see a lost boy who lost most of his family in a tragic event. He saw Derek as a regular human being, someone who was taking this event and using it to become stronger.

The two conversed about going to the lacrosse game next week, considering that Isaac, Scott, Jackson, and Stiles played for the team as well. Derek was actually surprised, especially to know that Stiles was part of the team. He had never actually been to a lacrosse game ever because he simply didn’t like experiencing to be in the crowd where people who shout and yell things like ‘Defense! Defense!’ or hold up posters that would probably spell out ‘Let’s Go, Jackson!’. But to find out that Stiles was part of the team, was something that sparked Derek’s interested into attending this game for once in his life.

‘I guess it won’t be so bad, right? I mean, it’s Stiles and since I’m his friend, I should support him and root for him. Because that’s what friends do, right? Support each other.’

Isaac snapped a finger in front of Derek’s face, gaining back the lost soul that seemed to be lost in a trance. “Derek?”

Derek blinked thrice in a heartbeat, clearing his throat. “Yeah, um, sorry about that. Yeah, I’ll go.”

Isaac smirked. “Are you sure? I mean, you just said you’ve never been to one before and now you’re just saying yes?”

“Well, it’s for support.”

Isaac contemplated for a moment. “This isn’t about Stiles, is it?”

Derek shot up at the mention of Stiles’ name. His palms became hotter, moister which made Derek wipe his hands on the upper thighs of his jeans, swallowing what felt like a lump in his throat. “What? No! No, it’s- it’s for you guys. I mean, what’re friends for?”

Isaac chuckled. “Whatever you say, man.”

“Are you guys coming or what?” Lydia remarked as she spun around in her heels, walking along further with Allison. Derek and Isaac rolled their eyes as they continued to follow behind them not too far.

“One more question,” Isaac spoke. Derek turned his head to look at him. “Do you have a thing for him?” Isaac whispered in a low but comprehensible voice.

“What? Who?” Derek replied, trying to act as if he didn’t know who Isaac was talking about.

Just before Isaac replied, it was like everything around Derek had zoned out as he spotted Stiles across the pathway, leaning against the counter while talking to the cashier up front. It was a guy, looking about nineteen or twenty at the most. He wore a blue and grey hoodie and his hair was in a much more organized fashion than Scott’s. Derek’s heartbeat jumped a little, causing it to rise a little as the two conversed and laughed together. He knew that look; the look on the cashier’s face was something that showed interest; interest in his new customer; interest in Stiles. Derek clenched his jaw a little. That should be him laughing along with Stiles. That should be him talking to him while Stiles is leaning against the counter.

“Dude, calm down.” Isaac’s voice broke Derek’s trance, the other boy chuckling as Derek tried to lower his heartbeat to its normal pulse, his breathing feeling eradicated. “It’s just Matt.”

Derek leaned his face away from Isaac to his the sudden light blush. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Seriously, Derek. I’m not stupid. I saw the way you just looked at those two. And I know that look. It’s the look of jealousy.”

Derek turned around with an appalled expression. “I’m not jealous!”

“Sure you are. Your heartbeat said so, so did your sudden change in breathing.”

“Shut up, Isaac. I’m not jealous of anyone.”

“It’s just Matt. Don’t worry. He’s not Stiles’ type anyway.”

Derek chuckled. “Oh and you would know?”

“Trust me. We all know what Stiles’ type is.”

Derek’s curiosity got the better of him. His eyes shifted to the boy. “What is his type?”

Isaac smirked. “I knew you were going to ask that! 10 points for Lahey.” Isaac’s little three seconds of victory was quickly ended by a glare coming from the older teenager. “I was just kidding. I wouldn’t know. The only person that would probably most likely know is Scott since the two are really close.”

Derek nodded blandly, turning away as he continued walking behind Lydia and Allison not too far. For the time being, that was the question that was ringing like a high pitch sound in Derek’s mind. ‘What is his type?’

 

“Stiles, lighten up,” Scott shoved his best friend in the ribs playfully. “It’s just for like an hour.”

Stiles sighed in response. “I know, but…”

“My god, you really like him, don’t you,” Jackson intervened.

“Shut up, Jackson. Like you have any advice.”

“Well, did you at least try to hide it so he won’t know?”

Stiles contemplated on the question and shrugged. For someone like Stiles, he’s not the type of person to hide things unless needed to. The only problem is that he doesn’t know if he should hide his feelings from Derek or express it to him. The thing that is keeping him from doing so is the fear of rejection. Stiles has never had someone to be with, relationship-wise. He’s never been out on a date before and even if he was to go out on one, it would probably be with Scott and Allison along with Jackson and Lydia with Stiles just on the side with his single self.

Stiles was never considering on being in a relationship anyway. He thinks that they’re too much of a hassle and a setback in his life. He doesn’t need anyone to be there for him all the time because he likes to do things himself. But ever since he met Derek, that whole thing is a practical delusion to him now.

“What makes him so special anyway?” Jackson asked.

“He’s… different.”

“Wow, well put, Stilinski.”

“I meant, he’s just not like anyone I’ve ever encountered. Usually whenever I tutor people, they’re just regular nice, polite, and thankful to me with a casual conversation thrown in there before the end of the session. But Derek, he’s something else. I’ve never met someone who’s so… concealed yet so straight-forward at the same time.”

“Concealed as in…?”

“Like hidden; he hides his emotions really well. It’s the tough yet subtle ones that attract me to them, intrigue me even. And Derek is just that. I don’t get why people would just judge him for his money and what happened to his family. Like, am I the only who sees passed that?”

Scott chuckled and wrapped an arm around his best friend’s shoulder, walking along beside him. “Guess so, buddy. Hopefully we can find out if he likes you the same way you do to him.”

Stiles scoffed. “Yeah, that’ll be the day.”

For the rest of the hour that the groups were separated, Stiles couldn’t help but think about Derek. How he was doing while the two were away, what he was doing with Isaac and the girls, what he bought and stuff. It was somewhat shocking to see the rich kid hanging out with such middle class people like them. Derek was way beyond Stiles’ league, and he knew that. But it was Derek’s personality that he seemed to take interest in. Stiles wasn’t someone who paid attention to materialistic things. He focused on the actual person, because Stiles is never judgmental when he becomes serious, unlike 99% of the time where he’s mostly judgmental in a sarcastic way. But for Derek, Stiles was all 100% serious about. In the few weeks that they’ve been hanging out together, he couldn’t help but notice the littlest things about him. 

Derek’s cute rabbit teeth were the first thing he noticed. Stiles thought that they were the most adorable thing to find in someone as muscular and masculine as Derek. It makes him cute inside all of that hotness going on there. ‘Yeah yeah, so I think Derek’s hot. So what? He’s got a better body than most.’ Even Derek’s tattoo on the center of his upper back, which he was still trying to figure out what it meant, was intriguing to Stiles.

‘Maybe it’s just all in my head. Maybe Derek doesn’t even like me, not even at the slightest. He’s probably got half the girl population begging on their knees to go out with him.’

Stiles shook the thought of as they entered a stuff animal store for Jackson. Apparently he wanted to give Lydia a gift for their eleventh monthsary. The group split of around the store to look around and see if anything interested them. Stiles was with Danny in the mean time.

“Don’t give up, Stiles,” said the masculine boy.

“What do you mean?”

“There’s more to it than just the way he deals things. Don’t just pay attention to his face. Observe his body language; see if he’ll react if you talk to someone who both of you know might be out of your league.”

Stiles chuckled. “Danny, Derek is out of my league.”

“Maybe so, but I meant talking to someone else. You know, make him jealous so that he’d feel more clingy towards you. And if he is, then that’s a sign that he’s into you.”

“How do you know all this?”

“Years of practice. Believe me, it helps.”

“One question, though. How would I know when to give it to him? Like, how will I know when to actually speak out how I feel, even though I don’t exactly know how much I feel for him at the moment, but you get the picture.”

“You’ll know. But don’t rush it; wait for the right time, not the perfect moment. A moment can’t be perfect, but if you can make it feel perfect, regardless of the timing, then you know it felt right.”

“As confusing as that sounds, I think I get the general idea of what you’re trying to say.”

Danny chuckled and smiled, exposing his dimples forming on the sides of his smile. “I’ll be surprised if you actually nail him.”

Stiles rolled his eyes and playfully shoved his friend. “Don’t get ahead of yourself now. We haven’t even actually been on an actual date.”

“Like I said, don’t rush it. You can’t rush these things.”

“Are you two coming or what?” Scott called out to the pair. Stiles and Danny followed Scott and Jackson out as the time finally came up that they had to meet back at the fountain, with Stiles finally relieved that he was going to reunite with Derek for what seemed like forever.

 

The group reunited at the fountain in the mall. Jackson and Lydia had to bail and so did Scott, Allison, and Danny. Isaac, Stiles, and Derek were the only ones left. Feeling like he was going to be a third wheel, Isaac also mentioned that he had to leave to work on his throwing arm for lacrosse, which meant that left Derek and Stiles, alone in the crowded mall as the sun was finally setting on the horizon.

The mall was getting even more crowded since this was usually the time that students and teenagers would come in and see a movie in the theatres on the second floor. Stiles felt that it was getting too crowded already, so he suggested that they should leave if they don’t want to get their bodies walked on by the rampaging pack of hooligans and obnoxious teens coming for them as they made their way up to the second floor. Derek was holding so much that he almost stumbled and dropped most of his bags, with one containing something very special that he didn’t want to give to a certain someone just yet.

“Stupid teenagers,” Derek grumbled.

“Now now, Sourwolf, don’t get all grumpy.”

“Will you just help me with these?”

Stiles chuckled and nodded, getting some of the weight off of Derek’s arms as he grabbed the bags and heading over to Stiles’ baby blue jeep, with the sunset beaming upon it. When the two finally set their baggage in the back of Stiles’ jeep, the two hopped into the front seats of the vehicle, snapping on the seatbelts as they rode off into the sunset to get Derek home.

As Stiles approached the parking lot of Derek’s humble abode, Stiles turned off his car and sat there in silence for a moment, before turning over to Derek who was waiting for something to happen before he exited the car.

“So, I don’t know if you know, but there’s a Halloween bash coming up next week at the school gymnasium. Are you going?”

Derek thought long and hard about this. ‘Whoa, so this is a dance thing. I don’t think I should go. I don’t feel the slightest bit of comfort if wearing a costume. I’m not even sure I’d even feel secure wearing it, especially if it’s spandex and people are going to be staring down at my junk. Say no, say that you aren’t going. Say that you’ve got a lot of work to do. Do it, Derek. Do it, for the sake of your embarrassment.’

“I uh… I don’t know if I should go. Dances and parties aren’t really my thing.”

“Oh come on, it’ll be fun! You look like you could use the partying.”

“I don’t know Stiles.”

“Please?” And there goes the puppy-dog stare. Derek hated when people used that face against him, and now that he’s seen Stiles’ puppy-dog stare, he couldn’t refuse even at the slightest.

Derek sighed. “I’ll think about it.”

Stiles nodded, smiling as he opened Derek’s door for him through the interior. “So, I’ll see you on Monday?”

“But… I’m not scheduled for a tutoring session.”

Stiles laughed for a moment. “You’re funny, Derek. Meet us in the cafeteria.”

Derek nodded in reply, stepping out of the car as he grabbed his things from the back of the jeep while Stiles started and ignited the engine. They both gave another pleasant glance before Stiles took off into the highway and Derek strolled into his house. As Derek took the stairs up to his room on the third floor, he set the shopping bags on one corner of the room and plopped onto his bed, grumbling to himself. ‘Nice one, Derek. Just go in your birthday suit, while you’re at it.’ Slowly as the night came to be, Derek seemed to have fallen asleep, slipping into the reality that wasn’t. And dreaming of a certain boy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so that chapter probably sucked but it’s the best I can come up with. I’m probably going to be slow updating this next chapter because I want it to be perfect, and plus I have mid-terms coming up for college so I don’t want to be falling behind as I already am. I’ll see you all in the next week or so! Reviews, kudos, and follows make me happy!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I hope that this chapter was enough to establish the basic plot of the story. I kind of had this idea for a while but I just didn’t know how to actually plot it out. Sometimes I just write things without any idea what I’m doing and I just take it from there. Sigh, Derek why do you have to be so mean to Stiles? He’s only trying to help you. You should be thankful, you grumpy.
> 
> Hope you guys liked this chapter!


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